Protect Her
by hopelessswriter
Summary: A scare with Lucy on a mission brings up a bad memory for Natsu. Will his crazy plan with the Celestial Spirits be enough to keep her safe? Some language, NaLu.


The dust cleared around them, and Natsu and Lucy were breathing hard. Their foes hadn't been very formidable, but there were so many of them that Natsu had almost agreed with Lucy's idea of regrouping somewhere else. But she had called Loke and Aries on top of already having Virgo with her, so the scales tipped in their favor in the end, and they were able to finish the fight.

Natsu straightened and stretched his arms, the warmth of his flames already fading from his skin. He scanned the eyes for Happy briefly, the little Exceed circling the city to check for any stragglers he and Lucy had missed. Natsu caught the cat wave at him as an assurance that he was okay, and Natsu sent him a quick thumbs up back. He then turned to check on his other partner—

"Woah, Lucy!" His arm snaked around her waist to catch her just before she hit the rocky sidewalk. Her head lolled back against his shoulder, and she laughed breathily. Her eyes blinked quickly as she tried to reorient herself, and she gripped his forearm shakily.

"I'm good, Natsu, just a little dizzy." She wobbled to her feet, but her grip on his arm didn't waver until she was steady on her feet. He squashed down the worry in his chest and put an arm around her shoulders, grinning cheekily to distract her from the fact he was still holding her up.

"Good job, there, Luce! We wouldn't'a won without you callin' Loke and Ariel."

Lucy giggled, sounding tired. "Her name is Aries, Natsu. And I'm going to go thank her for helping us out, so I'll be right back." She wiggled out of his grip and started shuffling over to where her spirits were checking each other for wounds. He caught Happy swoop down and go to Lucy, and he was content that his friend would take care of her. For all his complaining, Happy was more than capable of carrying Lucy's weight.

The worry wouldn't stop nagging at him, however, so he waved Loke over when he caught his attention. His old friend nodded and gave his wizard a brief hug and wink before heading over to Natsu. He looked tense as he approached Natsu, which made the niggle of worry grow.

"What's up, Natsu?" Loke sounded calm, like always, but Natsu detected a slight tremor under the cool front. Unwillingly, his eyes went back to Lucy as her spirits worried over her; she had gotten paler, and Happy was sending Natsu worried looks over her shoulder. She had gone too hard during that battle, he realized.

"What's wrong with Lucy? She never passes out like that after a fight." Loke's eyes widened ever so slightly, and Natsu's brow drew together. Loke stared at him for a minute, as if making a decision, before his mouth hardened into a thin line.

"That's pretty observant for you, Natsu." Natsu ignored the jab, and Loke sighed. "She's done something like this before, but you weren't there. She doesn't have an inhuman amount of magic power like you do, and summoning three of us, especially three Zodiac members, is a huge strain on any Celestial wizard. She's only done it once, when you were fighting Tartaros, and you couldn't reach her. But summoning all three of us is a huge strain on her body, as I've told her before. She must have really needed us to do it again."

Natsu swallowed at Loke's explanation. They had needed the help, there was no doubt about that, but he didn't want Lucy to almost kill herself just so they could complete the job. The sight of her lifeless body came unbidden to his mind, and his jaw set. He should have been stronger, should have taken out more in the beginning so that she wouldn't have had to—

"Natsu, calm down. It's not what you're thinking." Natsu glanced up at Loke and saw he had an arm halfway extended toward his hand, which had ignited with burning flames. Sparks were flying close to Loke's pant-legs, too. He extinguished the flames, but the worry remained. Loke relaxed at the sight of his skin. "I would never let her keep the gates open to the point of completing depleting her magic power. I don't want to see that sight again just as much as you." They both quieted at the heavy memory, but Loke continued after a moment. "Besides, Lucy's gotten a lot stronger since meeting you. I have no doubt that in time, she'll be able to stand beside you in battle."

Natsu bristled at that. "She does stand beside me, that's what—"

"I know, Natsu. And that's partly why she's in the state she's in." Natsu halted at Loke's tone, at the sudden anger. "She takes jobs that are way too hard for her because you drag her along with you. You're starting to depend on her despite her not having all of the strength for you to do so. It's not a bad thing, but you need to lighten the load that you're putting on her, so this doesn't keep happening." Loke let out an angry huff, and he dragged a hand through his hair.

Then he saw the look on Natsu's face and looked immediately apologetic. "I'm sorry, Natsu. But she's my Wizard, and my friend too, and I can't let something happen to her. Not after everything she's done, for me and for… the Spirit World." Natsu caught his quick glance to the pink-haired spirit, though, and wondered if there was any truth to Lucy's rambles about them having a thing for each other.

He went to retort Loke's apology and give him a piece of his mind, but he was quieted by an idea that popped in his head. He hummed and nodded, looking up at a confused and nervous-looking Loke. "Loke, is there a way for me to go to the Spirit World without Lucy?"

Loke's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "And why exactly do you want to come to the Spirit World?"

Happy cried out suddenly from behind them, and both men spun to see him holding Lucy up by her shoulder. Virgo was gone. Aries spun a cloud just in time for Happy's grip to slip so that her body didn't hit the ground. Panic gripped Natsu, and his resolve hardened. He spun back to Loke, who was dissolving into gold sparks. "I need to talk to all of you at once, so how can I get there?" He was yelling now, but Natsu didn't care.

Loke bit his lip at his urgency before breaking. "I'll come to Lucy's house tomorrow morning to bring you. Before sunrise, though; the stars have to be out to some degree for me to show—"

He vanished, his body replaced by floating bits of stardust, but Natsu was already gone. He ran over to where Lucy was and pulled her up into his arms. Happy was nervously fluttering around him, but he was checking to make sure that she was okay. Her pulse was steady under his finger, but her breathing was labored. Her eyes cracked open to see him, and he tried not to look as worried as he felt. "Hey, Natsu. I'm o—"

He smiled at her and shook his head. "Go to sleep, Luce, I'll take you home." And without another word, she was asleep. He exchanged a look of concern with Happy before turning to go back home.

Natsu eased open the window to Lucy's house, slipping soundlessly into the kitchen so as not to wake her. Wendy had healed her as much as she could but had told Natsu that magic power exhaustion could only be repaired by time. Lucy would be okay, though, and that was enough for Natsu. And if everything went okay with Loke, nothing like this would ever happen to her again.

It took five minutes of waiting for Loke to show up, looking like yesterday's battle had never happened in a clean black suit and his mane of hair in no disarray. He eyed Natsu cooly behind his glasses, sending a quick glance to Lucy's bedroom in silent question. Natsu shook his head, and Loke nodded. A soft orange light began to glow around his hands, and he spun them slowly to make a glowing circle. A hazy image of the Spirit World began to form in the middle, and Natsu finally realized it was a portal. Loke straightened and wiped his forehead before gesturing for Natsu to walk through. With one last look toward Lucy's room, he walked through.

He collapsed from an intense bout of motion sickness, the signal that he was in the colorful world of the Celestial Spirits. He coughed roughly before picking himself up, Loke looking back at him after ignoring his momentary weakness. Natsu thanked him silently as he started speaking. "So what exactly do you want to speak to the entire Zodiac about, Natsu?" His tone was guarded, Natsu noted with some surprise.

But he shook his head. "Not the entire Zodiac, just Lucy's spirits. It's about yesterday." Loke stared at him cautiously, arms crossed. Natsu's hackles started to rise at the feeling in the air, alive with the possibility of a fight.

"We are not breaking our contracts with Lucy, Natsu—"

"Woah, Loke! What?" Natsu started flailing his arms to erase Loke's train of thought. "I would never ask y'all that; it would break Lucy's heart. No, I just want to talk to them about the… contracts, or whatever they're called. I just have a couple of questions, honest." Loke sized him up for a moment more before sighing.

"Fine, Natsu. But I _will_ send you back to Lucy's if I don't like what you have to say." He turned and brought him to a circle. Lucy's spirits were already seated there, Natsu recognizing a few of them from past jobs. Even that crazy clock one was there. Loke patted him on the shoulder and went to sit next to… Aries, he remembered. He grinned, thinking how proud Lucy would be of him… before realizing that she could never know about him coming here.

"Hey guys," Natsu started, waving excitedly. They all blinked at him, and Natsu vaguely remembered Lucy telling him that spirits weren't used to being considered as equal to Wizards. That seemed just as silly to him now as it did then, but he wasn't one to judge. Plenty of non-Wizards believed him to be a monster, so he knew part of their pain. "I'm here because Lucy collapsed yesterday."

Immediately there were shouts of worry at Loke, and Natsu cringed. _'I guess they didn't know,'_ he thought sheepishly, laughing at Loke's glare nonetheless. He started waving his arms to get all the spirits' attention again, but it was futile. He groaned, and let out a quiet roar like Igneel had taught him. It was barely louder than a loud belch, but it scared everyone enough to quiet them down. The memory of Lucy breathing hard in his arms made him grit his teeth, and he steeled himself. His plan had to work.

"Yeah, and I don't want that to happen again. I wanted to talk to y'all about your contracts with Lucy. From what Loke told me, the cost of y'all crossin' over to my world is some of Lucy's magic power." Murmurs and nods gave him the answer he was looking for. "Okay, that's what I thought. But here's my question." Natsu looked at all of them, and he could tell that they wanted to protect Lucy just as much as he did. _'Please, Mavis, let this work.'_ "Do y'all think that you could use some of my power instead of all of hers?"

It was pin-drop silence. Every spirit was staring at him, some in wonder, some in confusion, and some in betrayal. Loke was looking at him in serious thought but didn't interrupt, so he kept going. "It would be kind of like a unison raid: a combined effort of magic power to complete a spell. And you wouldn't even have to use my magic power every time. But when she needs more of you than she can handle, like yesterday, instead of exhausting her, you could borrow some of mine. That way she can still build up to summoning all of you on her own, but it won't…" Kill her, he almost said, because that was his worst fear, but he stopped himself.

It seemed they all understood what he meant, though, because they were all looking at him with somber expressions on their faces. Natsu was done, so he just looked right back and prayed for the best. He wasn't even sure it was within their power to do what he was asking, but he had to try. For Lucy.

Aries stood up from beside Loke, hands clasped in front of her nervously. "N-Natsu, I agree with your concerns; Miss Lucy can't be put in that much danger again. But… what will happen when we exhaust your magic power? I fear you might be under-underestimating how much magic power we Zodiac spirits require from Wizards."

Loke stood and put his arm around her gently. "I'm with Aries on this, Natsu. You have absolutely no idea what you're asking for from us. Even if we can find a way to spare Lucy's reserves with your power, we might end up killing you in her place."

Natsu's heart skipped a beat at that sentence; reminding him of the memory of her dead body again, lying cold and broken in the halls of that castle. He shook his head at Loke, swallowing the lump in his throat. "She knows her limits, I think. Besides, if it comes to that, I think we can all agree that it's a better trade."

No one denied it, but no one wanted to say anything. It was fine with Natsu; he'd long ago resigned himself to the fact that he would lay down his life for Lucy. He'd even talked to Happy about it, trusting the cat to take care of her for him. The events of the Grand Magic Games had shaken him more than he liked to admit.

Two blue bodies zoomed up to his head, orbiting him quickly. "This is all well and good," the boyish one said, his name escaping Natsu. "But what does Miss Lucy have to say about this?" The girl one finished her twin's inquiry. Natsu swallowed; this was an important point for the spirits to understand.

"Lucy doesn't— and can't— know. She would only try to summon you all more to prove a point. Even if this plan doesn't work, she can't know. Can you all promise me that?"

The cow one that Natsu didn't particularly like stood up and crossed his arms. "You would take our words on it? Just like that? How can we trust that this isn't a trick on Miss Lucy?"

Natsu bristled at that, but so did some of the other spirits. Gemini around his head zoomed away toward the bull, Aries grabbed Loke's arm to hold him back. Some of the more human-looking ones shot evil glares at the cow, but Virgo was the one who said something amidst the anger. "He would never do that to Miss Lucy. Wizards don't punish those they love."

Natsu tried to fight the blush that had risen on his face and cleared his throat. "I'll take your words for it because as far as I'm concerned, you're part of Fairy Tail because of Lucy. And if I can't trust my guildmates, then I'm in a real bind, yeah?" All of the spirits stared at him in hope and confusion. "Lucy's my best friend, and I trust those she trusts. I hope you feel that same way, but if that ain't the case, then I'll go back to my world."

After a pregnant pause, Taurus grumbled and sat back down. Natsu smiled, and Loke stood up, a portal already open behind him. "You've given us a lot to think about, Natsu Dragneel. I can't make any promises on how plausible your request is, or if all of us are even willing to comply with it. But I will talk to the King and let you know what he says, deal?"

Natsu nodded, deciding that he had done all he could. "Deal, Loke. I'll see you." He turned and walked to the portal, where the sun was just beginning to rise. Confusion uncurled in his stomach. "Wait, I thought time moved faster here than it did in my world? Why is the sun just now rising?"

Loke laughed at him under his breath, as did some of the other spirits. "Natsu, time does move faster here. You've been here for a whole day."

Natsu straightened at that information. "Shit! Lucy's gonna be pissed!" He ran into the portal hurriedly, yelling a hasty goodbye to Lucy's spirits.

Loke appeared at the guild hall a month later, just as Lucy was beginning to needle Natsu about going out on another job. He always gave the excuse that he was too lazy, but he was getting more and more impatient with Loke. So when Lucy waved him over, he almost leapt out of his chair to drag him into the alley and beat him into the dirt.

He sauntered up to the table Lucy and Natsu were sitting at, hands in his pockets and smiling at Lucy. He leaned across the table at her, his smile growing as she rolled her eyes. She laughed and pushed him away, her eyes flitting over to Natsu briefly. He raised an eyebrow, but Loke started talking. "Hey there, Lucy. Would you like to accompany me to dinner tonight?"

Lucy giggled politely, but Natsu knew she hated Loke asking her stuff like that. _"I feel bad saying no all the time, but I'm never going to say yes! I wish he'd just stop,"_ she'd said, only half kidding, he knew. But he'd never say anything to Loke; seeing Lucy squirm was rare these days. He smiled evilly at her quiet plea for help.

After the eventual rejection and pleading, she rested her chin in her hands and looked up at her spirit. "What are you even doing here, Leo? It's rare you come here on your own power anymore."

A whisper of panic went through Natsu; Lucy was incredibly smart— like Levy-smart. She might figure out Natsu's plan and shut it down before Loke could even tell him if it would work. Then she'd get mad at him—

"I just came to make sure my sweet Wizard was doing alright. You gave us all a real scare on your last job; it's been all I can do to keep them all on my side of the gates." He dropped her a wink, and she blushed in embarrassment.

"I'm perfectly fine now, Wendy's been taking good care of me. I was cleared to go on a job a few days ago, actually, but someone—" She glared at Natsu, who looked away innocently. "—Hasn't been doing anything besides fighting Gray and drinking."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Natsu said smugly, just as Happy flew in and tackled Lucy. The little cat was squalling and whining about something Carla had done and dragged Lucy away to help him. Natsu chuckled at the cat's antics, and Loke sat down across from him in Lucy's spot.

"Natsu, we're all in agreement with your request." Natsu choked at that, eyes widening in shock.

"It'll work?" Loke nodded carefully.

"Yeah, the King said it will as long as it stays within the realm of being a Unison Raid. You can't summon us on your own, not that you'd ever need to, and you can't close our gates, either, unless you're contributing to us. But you have no idea how to do that, so don't go forcing your will onto our magic. It's nothing like Dragon Slayer magic, and you might end up doing more harm than good. Just trust Lucy, and give us what she can't when we need it. And if it gets to be too much for you to handle, you have to tell her."

Natsu was quiet, and Loke pressed on. "Natsu, she'd know if something was depleting your magic power; it never happens to you. But she will never know as long as you don't overdo it. She will think she'd reached her limit, so she won't summon any more spirits after us. But you being powered down will draw her attention and distract her. So you have to tell her. Deal?"

Natsu sighed and nodded, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He still wasn't sure he'd tell Lucy, but he knew it was important that Loke thought he would. He finished his drink, eyeing Lucy to make sure she didn't come back too early. "Deal, Loke. I hope I won't even have to help support y'all, but it's just so she never ends up like that again." Loke nodded soberly.

"I hope so too, Natsu." And with a brief glow, he was gone.

Lucy came back about ten minutes later, the sobbing Exceed gone from her side. "Where'd Loke go?" she asked, sounding confused.

Natsu cracked an eye open and shrugged. Hopping up from the table, he hooked an arm around her shoulder and guided her toward the job board. "I dunno. Wanna go on a job? I think it's my turn to pick…"

Her eyes lit up, and she rushed ahead to grab a few good ones for him to pick from.

"Open, Gate of the Golden Bull— Taurus!" Lucy screamed, slashing her key through the air to bring out her second spirit. Natsu threw a wide punch at the tug at his magic power, missing and earning a punch of his own to his cheek. He went down like a sack of bricks, the wizard he was fighting scurrying to get away from him and regroup while he was down. The crab spirit Lucy had originally summoned caught him on the ground and rushed over.

"You good brotha?" He asked, hauling him to his feet and slashing a spell aimed at them in half. Natsu coughed at the weak feeling that had gone through him and nodded.

"What's wrong? Is she okay?" They leapt apart at a stray rock Natsu's opponent had thrown their way before rejoining.

The crab—Cancer, Natsu remembered— grimaced. "Yeah, Miss Lucy's good, she just ain't 100% yet, ya feel? That level of depletion takes more than a few weeks to recover from; she probably wasn't cleared for this level of a mission." Guilt unfurled in Natsu's gut, but Cancer shook his head. "She probably took it so you would have a little fun after her being out for so long and taking so many low-level jobs."

Natsu blanked for a second before swearing. "Damn it, Luce." Rage boiled in him suddenly, for no real reason. He felt the portion of magic power Taurus was using like a leak in a dam, and he let a brief feeling of wonder go through him. _'Is this what Lucy's magic feels like all the time?'_ It was strangely different from his magic, which consisted of short bursts of power that ended almost immediately, like fire. This constant drain on his power was new.

But in the end, it was just another challenge, one that he would win. He turned off his brain and charged back into battle, going after the Wizard that had been hassling a town so bad that they'd put out a job for Fairy Tail to complete. Her name was… something like Portia, a Poison Make mage. Luckily, she was nowhere near as skilled in Maker magic as Gray was, so Lucy could handle her while he recovered for those few minutes. But as he rejoined the heat of battle, he noticed that Lucy was getting sloppy. Her whip was becoming more and more visible to the wizard with every swipe if her growing smirk was anything to go off of.

"Wow, a Celestial Wizard with only two spirits. Must be embarrassing, to have trained all these years with just the Cow and the Crab." Lucy growled, and Natsu finally realized what was wrong. There was a pink mist floating around Lucy, making her eyes unfocused and her movements more and more sloppy. She had been poisoned.

"What did you do to her?" Natsu roared, slamming into Portia from behind and catching her off guard. She yelped, and they rolled around on the ground, exchanging blows that were far more devastating for Portia than they were for Natsu.

They separated when Portia jumped backward, breathing hard. "Oh, nothing super bad! Just a little inhibition lowering— that magic is a real drain on its users. She won't even know what's wrong, but she'll summon too many of those things eventually and kill herself, just to prove to me that she has more than two."

Natsu scoffed, clenching his fist and igniting it. Portia eyed it nervously. "Lucy would never do that, especially not after—"

"Open, Gate of the Lion— Leo! And Gate of the Ram, Aries!"

Natsu cried out as his knees gave out suddenly, the flame in his hand sputtering before going out. Loke and Aries exploded out of their gates, fire tipping the tails of Loke's jacket and Aries' horns. Taurus' axe began to glow like it was molten before igniting. _'Shit,'_ Natsu thought absentmindedly. Only Cancer remained immune to the flames— evidence of his magic power contaminating the spirits. They lined up in front of Lucy, who had her hand extended with two more keys resting between her fingers. At the sight of the flames however, her arm withdrew slightly. "What—?"

"Natsu!" Loke yelled, realizing what the flames around him meant. Natsu was pushing himself up, trembling horribly but igniting his hand nevertheless. He couldn't let Lucy know, not now that she had four spirits out of their gates. He shook his head at Loke, who rolled his eyes but refocused on Portia. Natsu was surprised at his easy dismissal before remembering that Loke had been a part of Fairy Tail for years; he knew their battle mentality.

Lucy, on the other hand, was looking at her hand in fearful amazement. Natsu jumped back to her side, hoping he didn't look as feverish as he felt. He ignored the splitting pain in his gut from fragmenting his power so many ways and gave her a look. "Are you okay?"

Lucy looked at his trembling hand burning next to her, then her spirits, covered in flames. Understanding sparked in her brown eyes, and she turned to fully face him. "Natsu," she whispered. "What did you do?"

"Lovebirds! Do you give up yet?" Portia sang, rubbing her hands together. Natsu groaned at everything that was happening, turning to Lucy and swiping his burning hand through the air around her. The poison ignited the air, and Natsu snatched Lucy away so her skin didn't get burned. But as soon as they landed, she ripped herself out of his grip, betrayal burning in her eyes.

"Natsu, what the hell is going on? What did you do to my spirits?" She was screaming, and Loke appeared behind her with a hand on her shoulder. His coat was aflame now, but it didn't seem like the fabric was actually burning. He looked pretty cool to Natsu. Loke gave him a measured look, taking in his labored breath and shaking body. Natsu shook his head the tiniest bit, and Loke sighed. "Lucy, we'll talk about this later. But right now, you need to finish this fight."

Lucy's stare moved to Loke, who took a step back. "What do you mean, 'this can wait'? You and everyone else is on _fire_, and there are _four_ of you! I collapsed after summoning three, and as soon as I summon four you all light up as he goes down! I will not finish _anything_ except this _conversation_—!"

"Lucy!" Natsu tackled her to the ground to avoid the dart aimed at her neck. It stuck in his arm instead, and he yelled as it immediately took effect. He felt it attacking his magic power immediately, the flames in his fingers fizzling sadly. His head got fuzzy, and he groaned in pain as he rolled off Lucy.

"Natsu?" She whispered, fear replacing the anger in her voice almost immediately. He pushed past the pain in his gut to give her a small smile, squeezing the hand that was worriedly holding his before struggling to sit up.

"Let's kick her ass, Luce." He was shaking so hard he could hardly stand, but he fought the poison all he could to start building a stream of flames in the back of this throat. He knew it was going to be his last move in this fight, so he hoped Lucy would listen. He saw her assess what he was doing, before wiping her eyes and turning to her fleet of Zodiac spirits. She stuck her hand out and began shouting instructions.

"Do you guys have any idea how he's affecting you?" She asked, her voice wobbly from almost-crying. Loke shouted something back that Natsu didn't hear, but she nodded and swallowed. "Okay; Taurus, take out her airborne poisons. Aries, take care of her hands and any possible projectiles. Cancer, restrain her any other way you can. And Leo…" She spared a look at Natsu, catching the flames sparking at his teeth. He saw her swallow, and he knew that he was in serious trouble from the fear in her eyes.

Her eyes hardened, and she turned back to face Portia, who was beginning to look a little frightened. "Destroy this poisonous bitch."

Natsu roared, fire spiraling out of his throat and straight toward Portia. She went to defend herself only to find pink wool binding her hands together. Cuts littered her arms as Cancer restricted her from curling into a ball to protect herself as the air around her ignited, her poison catching fire from Taurus' axe. She screamed as Natsu's flames hit her square on, juiced up from Leo's Regulus guiding and amplifying them. She fell to the floor in a charred mess, ash floating up from her fallen body.

Natsu fell in a heap, Aries and Taurus' outlets disappearing from his reserve. He heard Lucy close Cancer's gate hurriedly, then her begging Loke to leave. He groaned and finally felt the last gate close as her cold hands hauled him into her lap.

He cracked an eye open at her worried face looking down on him. She seemed somewhere between crying and punching him in the face, both of which were signature moved for her in times like this. He tried to smile, but every nerve in his body hurt, so he just ended up grimacing. A warm drop of something splashed on his cheek, and he reopened his eyes to see her crying over him. He sighed; he hated when she cried.

He reached up a hand despite the pain and patted her head. "I'm fine, Luce. I still have magic power, it's just never been this low before." She let out a sob and swatted him on the shoulder, muttering something that sounded like "liar." He quirked an eyebrow and sparked a flame in his hand, waving it in front of her to prove her wrong, but she squeaked and squashed it into his palm. He killed it before her hand touched it though, the fear of burning her startling him so hard he got enough energy to stand (with her help).

She wrapped his arm around her neck and supported his weight as best she could. He had to bear some of it, of course, as she wasn't undamaged from the fight. "Of course the one time we leave Happy at home," she muttered under her breath, earning her a chuckle from him. They started trudging forward. Natsu felt his head start to clear after the first few minutes, his magic power burning in him starting to feel stronger, and he realized the position he was in. He took a little more of his weight from Lucy and cleared his throat.

"Are you okay?" he mumbled, the words taking more effort than he was comfortable with. She cut him a furious glance; it was apparent that now that she had time to think about it, she realized she had every right to be mad at him.

"Of course I'm fine. I didn't overstrain myself like last time, which I'm sure makes you happy."

Natsu stopped at that. "Of course I'm glad that you didn't end up overstraining yourself. You were with Wendy for a week after last time!"

"That doesn't mean you can cheat me out of magic power! I need to get stronger, Natsu, I can't just let you take the burden of my magic because I get sick one time!"

"I wasn't taking anything, I was just making sure you—"

"Natsu, I had four Zodiac spirits out, and it felt the same as having Plue out. You took too much of my magic upon yourself, and now look at you, you're— Natsu!"

Natsu's head had been throbbing more and more the longer the argument went on, but he needed Lucy to know why he was like he was. But his vision had blacked out without any warning, and he swimmingly focused on Lucy's face above his once again.

He groaned at how much his body was throbbing, but he tried to focus enough to talk. "I couldn't let you die again," he whispered. She choked on a sob as her brow creased in confusion.

"What do you mean, again—?"

But he was unconscious.

Natsu groaned, blinking his eyes rapidly. He felt warm all over, and as his senses came back to him, he realized it was because he was in a bed, under a blanket. He went to sit up, but a heavy pressure on his shoulder kept him still. He turned his head to peek at Lucy, asleep on top of his right side. There were tear tracks etched into her cheeks, and her breath smelled of Mirajane's chamomile tea. _'She was knocked out,'_ he realized.

He relaxed back into the bed, doing his best to keep Lucy asleep. He remembered how mad she was at him, taking the brunt of some of her magic's effects on her magic power. And he knew he'd do it again. The Grand Magic Games had wounded him, both his pride and his emotions. Her dead body haunted him before every battle, the year he'd spent away training, the weeks she'd been on bed rest after she collapsed just a month ago.

He would never let that happen to her again. Not while he was alive.

She snorted next to him, and he bit his lip to keep in a loud laugh. But her eyelids fluttered open anyway, and she looked up at his shit-eating grin and groaned in protest. To being awake or his expression, he wasn't sure, though.

Her eyes shot open wide suddenly, and she leapt off of him to stand at the side of the bed. "You're awake!" she exclaimed, to no one in particular. "I've got to go tell Wendy—"

He grabbed her wrist as she started toward the door, sitting up as he did so. "I'm okay Luce, there's no need to get her yet."

Lucy stood and blinked at him for a minute. "You promise?" she asked, voice raspy from sleep. He smiled and nodded.

She smiled at him after she'd given him a scrutinizing look, letting out a heavy sigh. "Okay, good. I'm glad." She turned to fully face him, her hands falling by her sides. "Well, now that you're awake, I need to talk to you."

Natsu huffed, lips quirking to the side. "Yeah, I kind of thought you'd want to—"

"What the _hell_ were you thinking, huh?" Her fist swung up and boxed him in the temple, almost sending him sprawling on the floor. She leapt onto the bed, straddling him and squishing his face between her hands. "Were you just going to let me stay at this level for the rest of my career? Or were you going to just start closing and opening gates as you felt like it? How stupid are you, Natsu?"

Natsu laid there and took her abuse, letting her get it out of her system before he even tried to explain himself. He was too tired to fight her right now, and it's not as if she really hurt him anyway.

About ten minutes, she sat there huffing and puffing with her face flushed. The rage in her eyes had quelled considerably, and now, all that was left was sad confusion. "Why, Natsu?" she breathed.

Natsu sat up and rubbed his head, trying not to look as exhausted as he felt. The steady burning he always felt in his stomach was nowhere near its usual strength, mere embers compared to the fire he normally felt burning there. He needed to eat some fire, and he'd feel good as new. But first, he needed to talk to Lucy.

He looked at her square on, her gaze defiant against his. "I did it so you wouldn't get like that again. You almost died, Luce, _again_, and you can't die. So I talked to Loke and your spirits a while back and asked if, instead of depleting all of your reserves and leaving you weak, they could instead take some of mine and allow you to keep fighting. They didn't depend fully on me," he hurried to explain, as her eyes had started to get dark again. "But whenever they sensed your magic power going down to dangerous levels, they would draw from me instead of you."

"Because you're so much stronger than me, is that it?" Her voice wobbled with tears, and Natsu's mouth clacked shut. "I live with being on a team with powerhouses every day Natsu, and my only comfort is that I've come a long way from who I was when I first joined Fairy Tail. But if you're going to take that away from me—"

"It's not because I'm stronger than you! It's because I don't use as much as you do!" Lucy stopped, looking at him in amazement. "Your magic is a constant stream into each spirit. Mine uses me for a split second, then the spell's effects are over. I can give more than you can because I don't work like you. Loke explained it to me a while back; my power was only adding to yours. Your spirits wouldn't take it from me unless it was absolutely necessary to you, that was the deal."

"Bullshit, Natsu—"

"It's not, damn it!" Natsu roared, and she halted. "You really scared me last time, Lucy. It was just like—" He stopped and took a breath, calming down just a tad. "You are not going to die again, not if I can do something about it." He met her gaze with the most calm he could muster.

She shook her head. "What is this whole 'again' shit you keep bringing up? Last time I checked, dying is pretty permanent. There's no way I came back to life, especially with no memories—"

"You really don't remember?" Both wizards turned to see Happy rubbing sleep from his eyes. _'My yelling must have woken him up,'_ Natsu thought. "During the Grand Magic Games?" Happy prompted, and Natsu felt a small kernel of panic in his gut.

Lucy looked beyond confused. "Happy, I didn't die during the Grand Magic Games—"

"Yes, you did. It just wasn't you." Lucy blinked, and Happy looked over at Natsu. "Natsu, why aren't you saying anything?"

Lucy looked between the two, trying to figure out Happy's words before her face cleared. Her gaze locked onto Natsu, worry clouding her features. "Are you talking about when Rogue—?"

"Yeah," Natsu cut her off, not wanting to think about that moment anymore. Not ever again, especially with her this close to him. He had let her believe that it didn't bother him, because it obviously didn't bother her, and he didn't like dwelling on that memory. But she didn't seem like she was going to let it go that easily.

"You've been worried about this for over two years? Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered.

He shook his head, but Happy answered for him. "You _died_, Lucy! Right in front of us!" The little cat had tears streaming down his face, and he was gripping Lucy's hand against his chest. "And then Natsu brought you back last week, and you-you wouldn't wake up, and—" Happy dissolved into tears, and Natsu swallowed thickly. Lucy looked down at him in horror, then back up at Natsu. Natsu held her gaze but didn't say anything, afraid of what might happen if he did.

"Natsu, why didn't you tell me?" she asked again, and he set his jaw.

"What was I supposed to say, Luce? 'Stop comin' on jobs with me, I'm scared you're going to die again'? You wouldn't have stopped, you just would'a felt guilty. And you would've done somethin' stupid to prove that you would be fine! So, yeah, I talked to Loke, and everything worked out. You're fine, and you can still get stronger until you won't over—"

"I'm not fine, Natsu!" Her scream interrupted him and scared him half to death. "You've been unconscious for a week now! And you think you're the only one scared of what happened? The future me may have died in front of you, but how do you think she got there, huh? How, Natsu?" He only shrugged helplessly in the face of her anger. "Because her Natsu _sacrificed_ _himself_ so she could get to us, unharmed. She told me he faced down a dragon, injured and on his deathbed, so she could make it to the Eclipse Gate." She sniffed, wiping the tears off her face, but her glare never wavered. "So you aren't the only one afraid here, okay?"

Natsu sat still for half a second before tugging her into his chest. She wrapped her arms around him before she even made contact, sobbing into his chest. Happy padded over to them and curled up in Lucy's legs, face turned so that he wouldn't see Lucy or Natsu's expressions. Natsu held her close as she cried, because of _course_ he knew he'd probably died in that Lucy's time. He would have had to for her to be by herself. But he didn't know it bothered Lucy, not like this.

He patted her head as she sniffled, and she picked her head up to look at him with half-hearted anger. "I get that you were scared, but this wasn't the way to do things, okay? You have to let me fight without you as my crutch, so I can fight by you."

His voice broke as he looked back at her. "If you die—"

"I won't, Natsu. I won't. Next time, we regroup. We take a break, or we take Gray." Natsu's eyes darkened, and she giggled. "Okay, maybe not Gray, but you get my point. But this sneaking around and stealing power with my spirits isn't the answer."

Natsu stared at her, the feeling in his chest almost unbearable. He started to blush and panicked, crushing her face back in his chest. She sputtered indignantly, but he knew they were okay now. He knew she would talk to Loke about redoing the damage he had caused, as well as scream at him for agreeing with him in the first place. But they would train, get stronger, which is what she did best.

And he would do what he did best— protect her.


End file.
